Originally Posted by kaiser_soze
I WISH THAT EVERYONE WOULD STOP ALL THIS SILLY BABBLE ABOUT THE BOOT ANIMATION AND SO FORTH AND START TALKING INSTEAD ABOUT THESE VERY REAL SHORTCOMINGS THAT APPLE NEEDS TO ADDRESS. AS LONG AS THE CUSTOMERS ARE EVIDENTLY TOO IGNORANT TO REALIZE THAT THIS IS A PROBLEM, APPLE WILL LIKELY CONTINUE TO IGNORE THIS INDEFINITELY. THE LAST MAJOR REVISION TO THE OS WAS AT THE VERY BEST A JOKE, AND THE SAME WILL LIKELY BE TRUE OF THIS ONE, AND THE NEXT ONE, AND THE ONE AFTER THAT, UNTIL SUCH TIME AS THE PAYING CUSTOMERS STOP ALL THIS BABBLE ABOUT BOOT ANIMATION AND SO FORTH AND START TALKING INSTEAD ABOUT THIS REAL, BONA FIDE PROBLEM!

When it comes to operating system upgrades from Apple, I am jaded, skeptical, and cynical. All for good reason.

The reason is this: there has long been one MAJOR problem with Apples OS, WHICH THEY HAVE STEADFASTLY IGNORED, meanwhile devoting a lot of effort to a lot of stuff that is frivolous in comparison.

The One True Problem with Apples OS: SCREEN TEXT THAT IS NOT UNDER THE IMMEDIATE CONTROL OF SOME PIECE OF APPLICATION SOFTWARE IS RENDERED IN SUCH A WAY THAT THE PHYSICAL SIZE OF THE TEXT ON THE SCREEN DEPENDS ON THE PHYSICAL PIXEL DENSITY OF THE DISPLAY!!!!!

This situation is LUDICROUS. It is ludicrous that Apple has ignored this for as long as they have. It is LUDICROUS that whereas they should have corrected this horrific shortcoming a long, long time ago, they have persisted in ignoring it and have instead directed their efforts at the likes of the boot animation.

For every Apple-apologist out there who will be eager to spring to Apples defense and try to find some way to refute what I am saying, please take note of the following more detailed explanation of the problem. You are no doubt aware that the physical pixel density of the screen varies from one display device to the next. You have probably heard, for example, of retina display. Now, there are good reasons why the same sort of high-resolution should be offered in the regular computers. But unless and until Apple corrects this shortcoming in the regular OS, this cannot be done. The reason is simple. Excepting the text where the font size used at the display is controlled by some piece of application software, all the rest of it will shrink physically in size. The quantity of pixels used will not change, and because that same, fixed quantity of pixels will take up less physical real estate on the screen, it will shrink. The extent of the shrinkage is the same as the extent in the increase in the physical pixel density. This will apply to the menu bar and everything else that you see across the top of the screen, and to the drop-down menus, and to all of the windows that you open and that are provided by the OS itself, such as the system preferences window. All of this is rigidly fixed to a fixed quantity of screen pixels, and when the screen pixel density increases, all of this shrinks in size. Like the Incredible Shrinking Man from that old science fiction movie, eventually it all becomes so small that it simply vanishes.

Now that you understand the problem and you understand that it is real, surely you as well find it perplexing that Apple has not long ago fixed this. Surely. It is manifestly a problem, and it is manifestly something that Apple should have fixed a long, long time ago.

There is another related problem. If you happen not to like what Apple calls font smoothing, which would more appropriately be called font smudging, then you will want to disable it. If you go into the settings for Appearance, there seems to be the ability to disable font smudging. It would appear that if you simply deselect the box that is labelled Use LCD font smoothing when available, that this would disable font smudging altogether. But it doesnt. There is even a logical inconsistency between that selection and the selection immediately below, where you select a font size associated with Turn off text smoothing for font sizes ___ and smaller. There are multiple problems with this. First, you cannot select a font size any larger than 12. Why not? Who decided to put this arbitrary limitation here? Software engineers who do not have any better sense than to put arbitrary limitations of this sort into software have no business being allowed near a compiler. Second, these settings only seem to have any effect at all for applications that cooperatively, voluntarily conform to these settings. It is apparently the case that applications can ignore these settings, and it is apparently the case that text generated from within the OS, i.e., the text that shrinks physically when the physical pixel density is great, simply ignores these settings. Or is the text that you see, in the very same window where you make these selections, larger than font size 12 and therefore immune to the setting, due to the arbitrary restriction, notwithstanding that you have deselected the box? IT MAKES NO SENSE.

I WISH THAT EVERYONE WOULD STOP ALL THIS SILLY BABBLE ABOUT THE BOOT ANIMATION AND SO FORTH AND START TALKING INSTEAD ABOUT THESE VERY REAL SHORTCOMINGS THAT APPLE NEEDS TO ADDRESS. AS LONG AS THE CUSTOMERS ARE EVIDENTLY TOO IGNORANT TO REALIZE THAT THIS IS A PROBLEM, APPLE WILL LIKELY CONTINUE TO IGNORE THIS INDEFINITELY. THE LAST MAJOR REVISION TO THE OS WAS AT THE VERY BEST A JOKE, AND THE SAME WILL LIKELY BE TRUE OF THIS ONE, AND THE NEXT ONE, AND THE ONE AFTER THAT, UNTIL SUCH TIME AS THE PAYING CUSTOMERS STOP ALL THIS BABBLE ABOUT BOOT ANIMATION AND SO FORTH AND START TALKING INSTEAD ABOUT THIS REAL, BONA FIDE PROBLEM!

Man, you really need a holiday. You get this angry over font smoothing? Seriously? Fonts looks great here on my 27" iMac and why on earth would you want fonts over 12pt not to be smoothed on screen, the only reason for turning off smaller point sizes if that anti-aliasing on fine text can make it more difficult to read.

What you're basically asking for is the ability to turn all font anti-aliasing off and select the font size for menu bars, window labels etc - why not just submit that as a feature request to Apple rather than wasting so long ranting on here.

Man, you really need a holiday. You get this angry over font smoothing? Seriously? Fonts looks great here on my 27" iMac and why on earth would you want fonts over 12pt not to be smoothed on screen, the only reason for turning off smaller point sizes if that anti-aliasing on fine text can make it more difficult to read.

What you're basically asking for is the ability to turn all font anti-aliasing off and select the font size for menu bars, window labels etc - why not just submit that as a feature request to Apple rather than wasting so long ranting on here.

Little perspective perhaps?

Ive never understood the obsession some people have over fonts. I know people that seem to remember the font used for everything theyve ever read on screen or on paper. Gruber of Daring Fireball touches on his dislike of a font being used every now and then. I have to simply take other peoples word for it.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

Kaiser_soze it's not a problem unless people, nor just you, think it is a problem.

If you want larger text you need to decrease the resolution. If not increase it. Apple played with resolution independence on OS X before and I think there is a way to turn it on even now. It didn't work for all apps so they abandoned it.

The One True Problem with Apple’s OS: SCREEN TEXT THAT IS NOT UNDER THE IMMEDIATE CONTROL OF SOME PIECE OF APPLICATION SOFTWARE IS RENDERED IN SUCH A WAY THAT THE PHYSICAL SIZE OF THE TEXT ON THE SCREEN DEPENDS ON THE PHYSICAL PIXEL DENSITY OF THE DISPLAY!!!!!

But this has been addressed in Lion. Try Googling for Lion HiDPI.

Basically if you have a 2560 x 1440 monitor (e.g. Cinema Display, iMac 27), then in Display Preferences you will now see two modes: 2560 x 1440 and 1280x720 (HiDPI). The HiDPI mode actually use 2560 x 1440 pixels to give you a 1280x720 mode that is highly detailed, with all the fonts properly scaled up as you said. And it looks beautiful.

It's not full resolution independence (which was abandoned), since it can't adapt to arbitrary resolutions: it requires that it always double in the vertical and horizontal. But I was thinking the other day: is that really an invalid assumption? Because other things in computers tend to grow exponentially so once pixel densities start to move, might they not too?

Just create a Space and then drag the application to it from Mission Control.

After testing it out I think more users will use multiple desktops because it is presented to them more directly. Just placing an app in fullscreen mode creates a space for that item.

The transitions for Mission Control and switching desktops is smoother but there are couple things I’d like to see. For instance, the ability to rearrange their location with Mission Control and to rename the desktops to something more personal and useful.

Believe me, this new method sucks horseradish. It is fine to have this, but Apple has to incorporate the previous method as there is no way to control if an app will be on all spaces it seems. Further, I agree, it would be important to have capabilities that Virtue used to have, etc.

Apple does listen to requests / feedback so if you have the inclination, please go over to bugreport.apple.com and file a report with you reasons, explanation and so forth. Same for the yelling up above. Just give some solid feedback to Apple and ask your peers to chime in while mentioning your bug report ID.

Believe me, this new method sucks horseradish. It is fine to have this, but Apple has to incorporate the previous method as there is no way to control if an app will be on all spaces it seems. Further, I agree, it would be important to have capabilities that Virtue used to have, etc.

Apple does listen to requests / feedback so if you have the inclination, please go over to bugreport.apple.com and file a report with you reasons, explanation and so forth. Same for the yelling up above. Just give some solid feedback to Apple and ask your peers to chime in while mentioning your bug report ID.

I see what youre saying. Yes, they need to have a way to add windows to multiple desktops. So far that only works with Finder and Safari, and I cant change that action.

I dont think that needs the previous setup as before though System Preferences. That always felt clunky. Taking me out of the Spaces I was working with to add them seem unintuitive. I think allowing it from within Mission Control would be cleaner.

For example. 3 finger swipe up brings up Mission Control. From there I click and drag my app but if I press the Option key I get the [+] to add a new desktop on the right and the little (X) to delete all but the original desktop. They could also have an icon appear on the unused left portion titles All Desktops that shows a visual representation of the apps opened across all desktops.

Just an example of something direct to its utility. Im using multiple desktops for the first time because Mission Control has made it less convoluted.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

Obviously a bug, but the entire "Spaces" tab is no longer found in System Preferences...

It also seems "Expose" is being completely replaced by "Mission Control," as the name of the former is disappearing.

Also, it seems "Automatically reorder Spaces" is new, though I'm unsure how it works.

It’s showing up as Mission Control in my build of 11a459e.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cougar

Go to the App options menu in the dock and select "Assign to All Desktops"

I can’t find that option.

edit: It looks odd on the System Preferences page. All other long titles using two words are places over each other. I’m sure that’ll change. So did they sneak in this simple change from Exposé & Space to Mission Conttol after the initial update of 11A459e or is Quillz using a different build?

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

If you happen not to like what Apple calls font smoothing, which would more appropriately be called font smudging, then you will want to disable it. If you go into the settings for Appearance, there seems to be the ability to disable font smudging. It would appear that if you simply deselect the box that is labelled Use LCD font smoothing when available, that this would disable font smudging altogether. But it doesnt.

You are confused about this option. The "Use LCD font smoothing when available" refers only to subpixel rendering, not font anti-aliasing.

Try it. Zoom in on some text with LCD font smoothing turned on. See how the edges of the letters are colored? Then quit that app, turn off LCD font smoothing, start the app again and zoom in on the text again. See how the edges of the letters are now grayscale?

I've been having this horrible thought lately. What happens when we run out of really cool, big cat names for OS X?

There are a few left and based on release schedules I bet we could get another 15 years or so from the current names.

Since Leopard became Snow Leopard due to massive under the hood changes in lieu of many UI changes then maybe Lions successor will be Mountain Lion. Although a mountain lion and panther are synonyms in the animal world.

What new nomenclature would you recommend? Note: pastry names are already taken.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

I have not a clue what you are speaking of. The only way I now of to get the updates to Preview 2 are from Software Update. The only two options for redeem codes games for Preview 1 and Preview 2. Preview 2 can be installed independently of Preview 1, but the updates in Software Update will only show up after you have installed Preview 2 and will appear in consecutive order after each has been downloaded, installed and youve restarted.

Without directly quoting the confidential email headed "Confidential, do not forward," I can only state that I was requested to not use Software Update, but rather to use a download code that Apple will supply in a future email, and download it from the MAS. Presumably this is to test the experience since rumors are flying that this is one way Apple will distribute Lion. I haven't received my coupon yet so presumably Apple isn't finished with the MAS version.

Perhaps Appleseed selected a percentage of Seeders to go this route rather than the Software Updater.

Without directly quoting the confidential email headed "Confidential, do not forward," I can only state that I was requested to not use Software Update, but rather to use a download code that Apple will supply in a future email, and download it from the MAS. Presumably this is to test the experience since rumors are flying that this is one way Apple will distribute Lion. I haven't received my coupon yet so presumably Apple isn't finished with the MAS version.

Perhaps Appleseed selected a percentage of Seeders to go this route rather than the Software Updater.

Im rally following what youre saying since its not an all or nothing solution for Lion. The first (Lion Preivew 1) install was from Mac App Store, the 2nd one (just an update to MAS) was from Software Update, the 3rd (Lion Preview 2) was from MAS, and the next three weighing in at about 1GB each were from Software Update.

There is no either/or option for getting these updates from MAS or Software Update.

This is what the developer site states: Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 3 is now available via Software Update for systems running developer preview 2 update 2.

Im not telling you not follow an email youre received from Apple but something sounds suspect about it since its telling you to ignore 3 major updates to Lion Preview 2 which has not only increased its performance and reliability but also tweaked many aspects of the OS. I cant imagine why they would want you to test such an old copy of Lion. May I suggest you calling them on Monday to verify that you are doing the right thing?

Developer Support: (800) 633-2152 (7AM-5PM PT M-F)

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

It's right below the show in finder/open at login/remove from dock options in an application's options menu in the dock.

Quote:

Originally Posted by solipsism

I’ve never understood the obsession some people have over fonts. I know people that seem to remember the font used for everything they’ve ever read on screen or on paper.

I hated Marker Felt in notes, and was really happy when you were able to change it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by solipsism

I’m not telling you not follow an email you’re received from Apple but something sounds suspect about it since it’s telling you to ignore 3 major updates to Lion Preview 2 which has not only increased it’s performance and reliability but also tweaked many aspects of the OS. I can’t imagine why they would want you to test such an old copy of Lion. May I suggest you calling them on Monday to verify that you are doing the right thing?

Developer Support: (800) 633-2152 (7AM-5PM PT M-F)

It's real. They want people to test the MAS method because that will be the main form of distribution. I assume they've updated the MAS version so it's DP3.

There is no either/or option for getting these updates from MAS or Software Update.

This is what the developer site states: Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 3 is now available via Software Update for systems running developer preview 2 update 2.

Im not telling you not follow an email youre received from Apple but something sounds suspect about it since its telling you to ignore 3 major updates to Lion Preview 2 which has not only increased its performance and reliability but also tweaked many aspects of the OS. I cant imagine why they would want you to test such an old copy of Lion.

Hey Soli, I love you too!

I currently have build 11A444d on my Mac Mini. AFAIK it's the lastest up to Friday, when a new build was released. It's not such an old copy. I'm assuming that what I do download from the MAS will have a higher build number and will be the new "latest and greatest." I'll send you a PM when I do this.

I don't understand what the difficulty is in believing what instructions I've received from Appleseed. I am not a developer nor am I a part of that program. I'm in what Apple calls the Appleseed program where average Joes like me get to receive free pre-release versions of the newest OS (I've done this for Leo and Snow Leo as well). The Appleseed project manager asks different Seeders to perform a variety of tasks and to test specific parts of the OS (like stress-testing Safari or Mail or networking). In my case, I'm one of a group who will test the viability of downloading the latest Lion via the MAS using a one-use coupon. As with other specific beta tests, I will be sent a ssurvey asking about my experiences doing this. I've had similar surveys sent after doing other specific tests on the beta.

And I can tell you that, as a former project manager and beta manager for several firms, you can't get everyone to test everything so you figure out which areas you want a subset of your beta testers to bang on. In one place (ROLM) we called it "monkey testing" when we had a grou all banging away on telephone keys to see if we could force the software to its knees. I really don't have an problem with Apple on this one.

I currently have build 11A444d on my Mac Mini. AFAIK it's the lastest up to Friday, when a new build was released. It's not such an old copy. I'm assuming that what I do download from the MAS will have a higher build number and will be the new "latest and greatest." I'll send you a PM when I do this.

I don't understand what the difficulty is in believing what instructions I've received from Appleseed. I am not a developer nor am I a part of that program. I'm in what Apple calls the Appleseed program where average Joes like me get to receive free pre-release versions of the newest OS (I've done this for Leo and Snow Leo as well). The Appleseed project manager asks different Seeders to perform a variety of tasks and to test specific parts of the OS (like stress-testing Safari or Mail or networking). In my case, I'm one of a group who will test the viability of downloading the latest Lion via the MAS using a one-use coupon. As with other specific beta tests, I will be sent a ssurvey asking about my experiences doing this. I've had similar surveys sent after doing other specific tests on the beta.

And I can tell you that, as a former project manager and beta manager for several firms, you can't get everyone to test everything so you figure out which areas you want a subset of your beta testers to bang on. In one place (ROLM) we called it "monkey testing" when we had a grou all banging away on telephone keys to see if we could force the software to its knees. I really don't have an problem with Apple on this one.

I hope this clarifies my particular position to you.

Mea culpa. I assumed you were a developer hence the confusion and offering up their de support number. I complete missed you are an Appleseed tester.

PS: My concern was making sure you were getting the best Lion experience possible.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

I have the latest update. I'll play around with built to see if it's an option I need to turn on. I noticed that after the update auto-login was enabled. I dint like that.

Anyway, I think that is much better than the System Preferences setup for the average user, but I can so how power users will hate the change.

edit: Resolution: You need to have two or more desktops in Mission Control or it won’t be displayed in Dock options for that app. I only had one Desktop, but three fullscreen apps, so I foolishly missed it.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

10.7 so far seems like FAIL to me from Apple -- iOS has way more AirPlay integration, and the Mac still does not have it in QuickTime Player. As for Adobe, they need to add AirPlay to Flash videos also...

10.7 so far seems like FAIL to me from Apple -- iOS has way more AirPlay integration, and the Mac still does not have it in QuickTime Player. As for Adobe, they need to add AirPlay to Flash videos also...

I can understand AirPlay in an iDevice to push to an AppleTV, but for the Mac the AppleTV should be connected to iTunes. It seems like Apple will likely leverage AirPlay within it to the AppleTV or not at all, but I cant see it be part of QuickTime so you can push it to an AppleTV.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

10.7 so far seems like FAIL to me from Apple -- iOS has way more AirPlay integration, and the Mac still does not have it in QuickTime Player. As for Adobe, they need to add AirPlay to Flash videos also...

edit: It looks odd on the System Preferences page. All other long titles using two words are places over each other. I’m sure that’ll change. So did they sneak in this simple change from Exposé & Space to Mission Conttol after the initial update of 11A459e or is Quillz using a different build?

Yes, this has been noted by some. I dunno why my build does not say "Mission Control."

It seems like that the Mail team isn't able to make Archive a special folder (doesn't show on the sidebar as one of the special folders like Sent, Draft, Trash, etc, and hence can't use "Use This Mailbox for > xxx"). Resort to hacking it I guess (anyone knows how to?)

You know, if Spaces is now being handled by Mission Control, how does one now get an application to be limited to just one Space? Before, you had a Spaces window in System Preferences and you dragged the apps you wanted onto the specific space. I can't figure out how to do that now via Mission Control.

"Also, users will see thumbnail magnifications when hovering over desktop thumbnails."

Nothing but a close button appears when hovering over desktop thumbnails for me. Anybody else getting a different result?

I've also noticed the "show all windows of a specific application" function has disappeared, for both a four finger swipe down AND 2 finger swipe up on Dock icon. In fact there doesn't appear to be any function for 4 finger swipe down. Anyone getting the same?

I have been using spaces as a grid ever since the days of Desktop Manager. Now Apple decides arbitrarily to present spaces as a horizontal incremental row. And they omit the menubar number of the actual space I am using.

With a 3X3 grid, I could visualize where everything was and navigate intuitively, once each space had been assigned an app. Now with Lion I don't know where I am or where I am going.

In the previous build of Lion all the spaces numbers were assigned randomly. Now with the new build Mission Control in Preferences does provide a box to reorder spaces. However the Mission Control icon still implies that spaces are assigned to a grid, when plainly they are not.

I'm writing this on an old Leopard mac pro. It still seems much better resolved than Lion.

Unless it's being renamed over and over again... in 20 different languages.
The people who are going to naming it are most likely the team assigned to work on Mission Control. With the amount of work they're doing fixing bugs and higher priority things, something like a name is best saved for last since it is low priority.
Like I said, that's how the software development process goes, it's all about the priority of bugs.

I also feel like there are multiple versions of the Developer Preview floating around even though they are labeled under the same build... which is really weird, but would explain the differences in Mission Control... The only thing I want from Mission Control at this point is to show minimized windows. Expose with minimized windows is something I love and don't want to lose.

I can't wait for iTune to get the iOS scrollbars. Damn Carbon, I'm sure it will take forever to either replicate something like that in Carbon and/or rewrite iTunes.

Why the heck not? It is MUCH more spontaneous than first downloading and then adding to the iTunes library. I like to use the ClickToPlugin Safari Extension and download MP4 videos and then use the free AirFlick:http://ericasadun.com/ftp/AirPlay/
to send them to my Apple TV. Having an AirPlay button in the QuickTime Player and web plugin would streamline things even more. Same goes for Flash videos, which there is no way to do Flash on Apple TV. Then I could send videos from sites like Crackle to my Apple TV too!

Every app that does audio and video should be AirPlay enabled -- I should be able to redirect any stream I want in my home. Why should iOS devices have MORE AirPlay enabled than Mac OS X?! Makes zero sense.

Quote:

Originally Posted by solipsism

I can understand AirPlay in an iDevice to push to an AppleTV, but for the Mac the AppleTV should be connected to iTunes. It seems like Apple will likely leverage AirPlay within it to the AppleTV or not at all, but I can’t see it be part of QuickTime so you can push it to an AppleTV.

Why the heck not? It is MUCH more spontaneous than first downloading and then adding to the iTunes library. I like to use the ClickToPlugin Safari Extension and download MP4 videos and then use the free AirFlick to send them to my Apple TV. Having an AirPlay button in the QuickTime Player and web plugin would streamline things even more. Same goes for Flash videos, which there is no way to do Flash on Apple TV. Then I could send videos from sites like Crackle to my Apple TV too!

Every app that does audio and video should be AirPlay enabled -- I should be able to redirect any stream I want in my home. Why should iOS devices have MORE AirPlay enabled than Mac OS X?! Makes zero sense.

Good luck, but I cant even get QuickTime to offer an option for remembering my last position. Lion has a quasi-feature that works if QuickTime unexpectedly quits, but I would like one that will remember all videos played, just like it does in DVD Player and iTunes.

Another option Id like is to choose which player iTunes options files with. I absolutely abhor the iTunes player so I dont use it for storing and organizing my videos. If I could double-click an item in iTunes and have QTX launch as the player much in the same way Preview opens and loads PDFs stored in iTunes Id be a happier camper.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"